BRITISH ISLES BRITAIN

Code: M2685

Cartographer: Sebastian Munster

Date: 1578 Basel

Size: 28*17 cms

Das Einder Buch Beschreibung Engellandts Und Scottlandts

Uncommon map of the British Isles

This unusual woodblock map of the British Isles was first included in the 1578 edition of Munster's "Cosmography", according to Shirley, probably by the printer Heinrich Petri. It is based on Munster's own map but with some important differences; there are fewer place names shown in the southern part of the country, north is oriented to the top of the page (Munster's map oriented north to the left), and, perhaps most obviously, Scotland slants eastwards in a style reminiscent of Ptolemy - even though this is a supposedly "new" and "modern" map. Shirley suggests that this curious Scotland may not have been a reversion in geographical thinking, but instead the size of this page was just too small to include Scotland and the engraver found a practical solution.